Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-12-02
A BUNCH OF PANSIES.
BY FANNIE ISABEL sHERRICK.

Would he ever come back2 Her wide
eyes grew dcsolate as she looked at him.
Then the lashes dropped yer them, and
she lay motionless against his breast for
a second, as though the spirit had died
within her.
'Jeanette-is this the girl fitted to be
soldiers wifeG Have you no regard
for my honor2" His voice quivered, but
his eyes looked down upon her proudly.
eyes" She reused herself bravely.
"Your duty is at the front. would not
hold you back"
She placed her hand on the bunch of
pansies at her throat; royal beauties they
were, with great velvety hearts OF purple
and gold
They are my colors," she whispered.
"Wear them, my knight, and be true to
your lady always"
Her trembling fingers pinned them in
side his coat.
"God be with YOU" She kept the tears
back, smiling into his face, though the
drum-beat sounding in the street below
seemed like death-knell. 1t was the
signal to start The signal for the vol
unteers, the brave men who were off for
the Indian was-this dreadful war that
had come like a blight upon her beauti-
full Western home.
"Good,by and God bless you! The
pansieS will be my talisman."
A last look into the dreamy, lifted
eyes, and he was away, riding down the
street with dash and a clatter into the
midst of the excited men who were
armed to the teeth, well mounted and
equipped, ready to meet on his own bat
tie ground the Indian chieftain and his
warlike band.
The most intense excitement ragged in
the mining camp. Ever since the news
had come that the old chief was on the
warpath, and the call had been made for
volunteers to defend the settlers on the
frontier, the town had been alive with
men anxious to obtain the scalp of the
bloodthirsty redskin.
Two days before the militia had been
ordered out, and just as the setting sun
was Illuminating the red buttes in the
valley the brave boys had marched away,
the strains of the martial music sounding
sadly in the ears Of those who had loved
ones in the ranks. And now these
plucky volunteers were to follow. A de
termined set they were; most of them
hardy mountaineers, as we'll trained to
the saddle as cowboys, and as reckless of
life and limb
Among them none were more fearless
or more brave than Ned Ashby He was
one OF the young pioneers who had
struck bonanza in the mines. More
than that Ito use the phraseology of the
mining camp, he had located claim
on the prettiest girl in town and patent
ed it-a stroke of good luck that had
made him more envied among the boys
than even his mining shares in the MAY
Queen"
Jeanette, standing at the window,
gazed with dumb despair at the horse
men riding down the valley. Among
them none looked so handsome or so
dashing as her own lover, he whose warm
kisses still fingered on her lips.
The tears rose slowly in her eyes as she
looked after him. The world was SO
beautiful, why should it he marred by
such thing as ware Her eyes wandered
away from the horsemen now lost in q
cloud of dust to the fair mountain that
bemmed her in.
1t was September in Colorado, and the
beautiful queen, Summer, was looking
backward over the mountain, leaving hel
smiles on the blossoms and the green
slopes that turned to gold and crimson
as she passed.
The next three days were days of sus
dense and almost agony to the patient
ones left at home. What if the brave
little band should be ambushed in some
narrow canyon, and brutally butchered, a,
were Thornburgh's companies7 ThC
Meeker massacre was too fresh in thu
minds of all concerned for them not t.
think of the terrible fate that might be
fall these courageous men, and wher
news came of their safe arrival on tn,
Indian battle ground, there was q re
loicing which was universal.
And with the good news came lette
for Jeanette from Ncd-so full of ten
derness for her, so full of courage ant
hope for himself. He expected t.
go on scouting expedition the next da,
with Major R -, dangerous affair
but his words were full of bravery anC
enthusiasm.
She trembled little as she read, fol
she knew his fearless self-willed nature
so ready to fisk life and limb in the ser
vice of others.
Then passed many weary days anC
nights in which no word came-night
which she spent in prayer in the prett,
chamber overlooking the vine shadowet
porch; nights when she looked outupo
the silent, moonlit world, its shadowy
NM ofhI pfntY 81
the dim stars, with dark foreboding o
evil in her heart, trying in vain to still
the tumult that fevered her brain. Oft
times it feemed as if her every breat
were prayer.
Then came the news of fierce battl
between the Utes and the Ma or's men, i
which many were wounded on either side
Her father came home at noon with q
open telegram in his hand.
She took it from him silently, read
ing:
Edward AshbY was wounded in the battl
of the TIL instant"
She did not faint, though he had ex
pected she would, but her face blanche
-blanched until it was like marble-an
her eyes grew large and black, CLOWN
like stars.
IL must CO." she said, "and nurs
him."
"Dear child" he replied, his han
upon hers, "thls is folly, the talk of il
sanity. You cannot go, Jeanette"
''But will" The color leaped to he
cheeks again and her eyes flashed.
He could not say her nay then. Fl
knew her nature too we'll ThWarted
this desire, she would die.
II cannot go with you, Jeanette. Ca
you go alone"